Laminated retaining wall and method of constructing same



' April 1966 J. w. SCHNELLER 3,247,673

LAMINATED RETAINING WALL AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING SAME Filed June 6,1961 INV EN TOR.

JZsep M Skim??? United States Patent 3,247,673 LAMiNATEl) RETAHNING WALLAND METHOD 0F CUNSTRUCTING SAME Joseph W. Schneller, Eggertsville, N.Y.,assignor to National Gypsum Company, Buifalo, N.Y., a corporation ofDelaware Filed June 6, 1961, Ser. No. 115,229 3 Claims. (Cl. 61-49) Thisinvention relates to wall construction, and more particularly to a newand improved laminated retaining wall constructed along the berm line ofa body of water such as a canal, and a new and improved method ofconstructing such wall. 1

The present invention is especially useful in constructing canalbulkheads in the southern portions of the United States, specifically inStates like Florida wherein swampy or low land is being reclaimed forboth residential and business building purposes. In such areas it iscommon practice to form bodies of water such as canals by digging outthe swampy or low land and using the dug out earth to build up dry landareas between such canals. Once this initial operation is completed, itis then necessary to prevent erosion of the soil adjoining the canals bybuilding retaining walis or bulkheads, and a primary consideration inconstructing such retaining walls is cost, from both the material andlabor standpoints.

While this problem has been elfectively solved by constructing suchretaining walls with corrugated sheets of economical, light weight andrigid material such as asbestos cement, as described in my relatedcopending applications Serial No. 105,635, filed April 26, 1961, andentitled Method of Constructing Retaining Wall; and Serial No. 116,241,filed June 8, 1961, and entitled Retaining Wall and Method ofConstructing Same, the thickness of such walls was preferably limited tothe thickness of a single corrugated sheet, which inherently limitedtheir strength. Under conditions of exceptionally heavy horizontal loadsagainst the wall, such as when the backfill behind the wall is softflowing mud, it has been found to be both necessary and desirable toprovide a wall of greater inherent strength.

Accordingly, it is a primary objectof the present invention to producesuch increased strength by providing a new and improved laminatedretaining wall, as well as a new and improved method of constructing thesame.

Another object is to provide such laminated retaining wall and methodwhile still keeping material and labor costs low through the use ofcorrugated sheets formed of economical, light weight and rigid materialsuch as asbestos cement.

Still another object is to provide a new and improved laminated wallsection composed of such corrugated sheets, such section being primarilyadapted for use in constructing such laminated retaining wall, but notnecessarily restricted to such use, as it can also be used to constructa load bearing foundation wall for structures, as well as piling forreinforcing walls.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentupon consideration of the following detailed description andaccompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a laminated wall section constituting anembodiment of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view thereof with a portion broken away todecrease the overall height of the section;

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of a partially completed laminatedretaining wall constructed along the berm line of a body of water inaccordance with the teachings of the invention and incorporating aplurality of sections shown in FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3 andillustrating the joint between adjacent sections of the wall.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly FIGS. 1

' and 2, the inventive laminated section generally indicated at 10 willnow be described in detail. This section includes a pair of commerciallyavailable corrugated sheets 11 and 12 which are formed of economical,light weight per square foot, with the depth of a corrugation varyingfrom approximately 1 /2 inches to about 1.6 inches, and the pitch of acorrugation, measured from center to center, being about 4.2 inches.

As for their pertinent strength characteristics, when saturatedwith'water and measured on a per foot width basis, each sheet has amodulus of elasticity varying from about 3.4 10 psi. for the thinnestsheet to about 5.4 10 psi. for the thickest sheet. moment of inertiavaries from about 0.764 infi to about 1.26 in.; the section modulus fromabout 1.01 in. to about 1.58 in. the modulus of rupture or breakingstress from about 3380 p.s.i. to about 6000 psi. and a shear loadperfoot width from about 2795 lbs. to about 5880 lbs. Since thesesaturated strength values are approximately of those for a completelydry product, and since these sheets have a high strength to weightratio, their suitability for wall construction including theconstruction of retaining walls, is evident.

Continuing with FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be noted that both sheet 11 andsheet 12 are illustrated as being of the same width, thickness andlength. However, these relative dimensions can be varied as desired. Forexample, one sheet could be thinner and shorter than the other.

Sheets 11 and 12 are arranged with their corrugations 13 and 14respectively extending parallel with each other and are laminated crestto crest. The crests of the corrugations are indicated at CR while theVales are indicated at V, and the width of a corrugation, whether it bemeasured from the center of one vale or crest to the center of theadjacent vale or crest respectively, is indicated at w. The termlaminated as used herein, preferably means that the sheets are rigidlysecured together in any suitable manner, such as by an epoxy type resinadhesive indicated at 15, or by bolts (not shown) passing through thesheets. However, in some instances it may not be absolutely necessary torigidly secure such sheets together, and therefore the term laminated isalso intended to include an arrangement of the sheets without meansrigidly securing the same together, and wherein the crests are either inabutting relationship or close juxtaposition. Nevertheless, by solaminating a pair of such sheets to form a section 10 to the pertinentstrength characteristics of the section are significantly increased overthose specified above for a single sheet. For example, when twocorrugated sheets, each about 0.4 inch thick, are rigidly laminatedtogether in accordance with the invention, such as by the adhesive notedabove, these sheets produce a Similarly, the

laminated section having a moment of inertia of about 7.55 in. and asection modulus of about 5.07 inf. These Values are respectively aboutten and five times as great as the corresponding values previouslyspecified for a single sheet of such thickness. Thus, these sections areparticularly adapted for use in forming retaining wall which aresubjected to exceptionally heavy horizontal loads.

It will also be noted that sheets 11 and 12 are offset laterally withrespect to one another. Thus, at the left end of FIGS. 1 and 2, the endcorrugation 13a of sheet 11 is offset laterally beyond the adjacent endcorrugation 14a of sheet 12 by the full width of a corrugation measuredfrom the center of a crest-to-crest lamination, while the opposite endcorrugation 14b of sheet 12 is offset laterally beyond the adjacent endcorrugation 13b of sheet 11 the same distance. This offset relationshipfacilitates joining adjacent sections together during construction of awall by forming combined lap-butt joints between adjacent sections.

As will be apparent from the foregoing, the laminated sections 10provide .a much stronger structure than a single corrugated sheet.Further, while such sections are especially adapted for use inconstructing retaining walls along the berm line of a body of water, aswill be described in detail below, their use is not necessarilyrestricted thereto. For example, such sections 10 can be used as a loadbearing foundation wall for various structures. In addition, suchsections can be also used as piling for reinforcing a wall, in a mannersimilar to that described in my copending application Serial No.116,241. Moreover, these laminated sections 10 could replace the singlesheets employed in constructing a retaining wall on a footing, asdisclosed in said application.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, a preferred construction of a retainingwall W will now be described. As shown in FIG. 3, a body of water suchas a canal is generally indicated at C, the berm or upper portion of thecanal bed being indicated at B and the ground adjacent the canal at G.The juncture of the berm B with the surface of the. ground G constitutesthe berm line which is indicated at BL.

In constructing a retaining wall along berm line BL, each section 10 isfirst stood on edge along the berm line with the corrugations 13 and 14extending upwardly. Next, the section 10 is partially sunk into theground to the desired level by the well known jetting operation. Inperforming this operation, which is not illustrated, water pressure fromthe nozzle of a hose connected t a pump drawing water from the canal Cis used to part the earth along the berm line BL and permit sinking ofsections 10 one by one.

Once the first section 10 is sunk to the desired level, the next sectionis arranged and sunk in the same manner, but, as clearly shown in FIG.4, the olfset end corrugations such as 13a and 14b of adjacent sectionsare arranged to overlap each other vale to vale, and to abut edgewisethe adjacent end corrugations such as 13b and 14a respectively. When thesecond section 10 is sunk to the same level as the first section, thesesections are locked together in any suitable manner in order to preventthe second section from sinking further than the first, and therebyobtain a level wall. This locking operation is performed by fasteningthe overlapping corrugations such as 13a and 14b, and a preferred way ofdoing this is to loop a tie 4 material (not shown) such as tar, tarpaper or mortar to further insure water tight combined lap-butt jointsbetween adjacent sections 10.

Once the desired number of contiguous upstanding sections 10 have beenerected, the wall is completed in the usual manner .and provided with aconcrete cap 20, such as described in my aforesaid copendingapplications.

It will now be seen how the present invention accomplishes its variousobjects. For example, the light weight and rigid corrugated sheets ofasbestos cement are easy to handle and erect, as well as beingeconomical to manufacture, thereby keeping both material and labor costslow. Likewise, the sections 10 formed from the laminated sheets providea muchstronger wall than one limited to the thickness of a single sheet,without impairing ease of handling such sections in erecting the wall.Furthermore, such sections have a wide range of applications includinguse as load bearing walls for structures, and use as piling, as well asuse in forming retaining walls, for which they are particularly adapted.

While the invention has been described and illustrated herein withreference to certain preferred embodiments, it is to be understood thatvarious changes and modifications may be made in the invention by thoseskilled in the art without departing therefrom, and that the scope ofthe invention is to be determined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A wall section for a laminated retaining wall constructed on groundalong the berm line of a body of water and subjected to exceptionallyheavy horizontal loads by the backfill, said wall section comprising apair of corrugated sheets of light weight and rigid, miner-a1fiber-cement material, said sheets being arranged with theircorrugations extending substantially parallel and rigidly laminatedtogether crest to crest, and with an end corrugation of each sheetoffset laterally beyond an adjacent end corrugation of the other sheetby the full width of a corrugation measured from the center of a crestto crest lamination, in order to form combined lapbutt joints withadjacent sections of the same construction.

2. In a laminated retaining wall constructed on ground along the bermline of a body of water and subjected to exceptionally heavy horizontalloads by the backfill, the combination comprising: a pair of upstandingcontiguous sections, each section including a pair of corrugated sheetsof light weight and rigid, mineral fiber-cement material, said sheetsbeing arranged with their corrugations extending upwardly, substantiallyparallel and rigidly laminated together crest to crest, and with an endcorrugation of each sheet ofiset laterally beyond an adjacent endcorrugation of the other sheet by the full width of a corrugationmeasured from the center of a crest to crest lamination, and saidsections being arranged with adjacent offset end corrugationsoverlapping each other vale to vale and with an offset end corrugationof each section abutting edgewise an adjacent end corrugation of theother section, to form a combined lap-butt joint between said sections.

3. In a laminated retaining wall constructed on ground along the bermline of a body of water and subjected to exceptionally heavy horizontalloads by the backfill, the combination comprising: a plurality ofupstanding contiguous sections partially sunk into the ground along saidberrn line to the same level, each section including a pair ofcorrugated sheets of light weight and rigid, mineral fiber-cementmaterial, said sheets being arranged with their corrugations extendingupwardly, substantially parallel and rigidly laminated together crest tocrest, and with an end corrugation each sheet offset laterally beyond anadjacent end corrugation of the other sheet by-the full width of acorrugation measured from the center of a crest to crest lamination,said sections being arranged with adjacent offset end corrugationsoverlapping each other vale to vale and with an offset end corrugationof each section abutting edgewise an adjacent end corrugation of eachadjacent section, to form a combined lap-butt joint between adjacentsections, and fastening means extending through said overlappingcorrugations adjacent their upper ends and locking said sectionstogether at said level.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS524,731 12/1955 Belgium. 780,436 1/ 1935- France.

12,356 1848 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES American Builder, February 1960, pages 164-165.

CHARLES E. OCONNELL, Prlmary Examiner. Keelor 61-35 X 10 JACOB L.NACKENOFF, JACOB SHAPIRO,

Klein et a1. 50100 Examiners.

2. IN A LAMINATED RETAINING WALL CONSTRUCTED ON GROUND ALONG THE BERMLINE OF A BODY OF WATER AND SUBJECTED TO EXCEPTIONALLY HEAVY HORIZONTALLOADS BY THE BACKFILL, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING; A PAIR OF UPSTANDINGCONTIGUOUS SECTIONS, EACH SECTION INCLUDING A PAIR OF CORRUGATEDMATERIAL, OF LIGHT WEIGHT AND RIGID, MINERAL FIBER-CEMENT MATERIAL, SAIDSHEETS BEING ARRANGED PARALLEL AND RIGIDLY LAMINATED INWARDLY,SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL AND RIGIDLY LAMINATED TOGETHER CREST TO CREST,AND WITH AN END CORRUGATION OF EACH SHEET OFFSET LATERALLY BEYOND ANDADJACENT END CORRUGATION OF THE OTHER SHEET BY THE FULL WIDTH OF ACORRUGATION MEASURED FROM THE CENTER OF A CREST TO CREST LAMINATION, ANDSAID SECTIONS BEING ARRANGED WITH ADJACENT OFFSET END